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Year: 2019 – Present
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Episodes: 25
Rating: 4 out of 5
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be in a world like Dungeons & Dragons or some type of fantasy world? What if you were transported to a new world and given skills like a wizard, blacksmith, or whatever? How would you think you would fair? Everything is going well in this world until one of your “friends” betrays you, and you’re locked in a dark dungeon with monsters trying to kill you at every turn. Would you take the chance to be in this world? Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest follows the story of one boy who ends up in this world and becomes the world’s strongest.
Overview
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest follows the story of Hajime Nagumo. Hajime Nagumo is an ordinary 17-year-old high schooler. Some of his classmates often bullied him for his relationship with the class idol, Kaori. Hajime’s life suddenly changes when he and his entire class are summoned to a fantasy world and tasked with saving mankind. All his classmates receive powerful magical abilities. On the other hand, Hajime only gains the pitiful alchemical magic to transmute solid materials, a typical power usually found in craftsmen and smiths. Hajime is belittled by his classmates as having an inferior and useless ability.
During an expedition in the Great Orcus Labyrinth, Hajime is betrayed by one of his classmates, which makes him fall to the bottom of the deadly abyss. He survives the fall, but his horror is just beginning. Faced with the terrifying monsters and the thought of death, Hajime commits to living at any cost and returning home. After eating a variety of monsters that change his body, Hajime gains incredible strength to fight. When he meets an imprisoned vampire he names Yue, they both escape the labyrinth. Hajime sets off on a journey to find a way back home and show the world that the weakest person can become the strongest.
Review:
When I first saw this anime, I thought it would only last for one season and be a complete bore. I was pleasantly surprised with how funny it was, and it actually had a great storyline. It has a Dungeons & Dragons type of feel and story. The main character, Hajime, is one of the weakest in the lot. His crew goes on a mission to clear the dungeon, only for him to be attacked by a jealous member. He survives the attack, but the danger for him is just beginning. He has to survive by eating other deadly creatures, which gain him powers and levels him up. I thought this was a typical start, but after it, it completely changed. Hajime becomes a cold-hearted person whose only goal is to survive. When he met the vampire princess, Yue, she asked to help, and he was like, naw, I’m good.
Season one is entirely dedicated to learning about what Hajime plans to accomplish. After defeating or clearing the dungeon, he learns that God or the gods don’t exist and that there is a warrior on the outside. He wants to clear all the dungeons to challenge these gods and return to his world. Season one also is dedicated to introducing the variety of lovable characters that will help Hajime on his mission. Season one is hilarious as the anime holds your attention with subtle action but primarily relies on humor. The season also does a decent job of showing how Hajime has changed. He became a straight-up killer who depends on his different makeshift band of friends and calls the people who came with him to the new world as weak and naïve.
Season two kicks the anime up a notch by introducing a villain working behind the scenes but also sending underlings. Hajime continues his quest by completing dungeons, which has become a tad bit harder, but also protecting certain places against his annoyance. I felt like this season was meh because it progressed the story and added an annoying general, but I am ready to see some shit go down. Well, it did during the last few episodes. Hajime rained down a weapon from the sky that obliterated an army. Now that I think about it, the last few episodes were dark because most of the people in Hajime’s old group were killed, and when Hajime arrived, he took no prisoners.
The animation of this anime was outstanding. It was crisp, full of colors, and very appealing to the eyes. Each character was drawn in a way that didn’t look old and stale. I will say that the use of CGI was blah. I understand you want to show how large an army is, but it comes off as wonky and unappealing. I did like Tio in her dragon form. That was well use of CGI, and the Dragons that Yue and Hajime were also another good use of CGI. I like anime series that make everything colorful but not too much color where you get annoyed or wonder why someone has the purple eyes and hair aspect about them.
As far as the characters go, there are many of them, and there is one that you will root for or really come to like. Hajime Nagumo is the central main protagonist/character. Homeboy was a high-school otaku student transported with his classmates to another world. He only gains a very low-level transmutation skill. His character takes a transformation from a weakling to a complete badass. Hajime learns the secret to why the dungeons were created and was granted its treasures. What I like about him is that he never gave up and fought his way to survival. He becomes a self-taught master gunsmith, applying his otaku knowledge based on science fiction and military technology. This gave him an extreme advantage over his opponents.
There are a few female characters, and I love each one of them. Yue is just so cute but also extremely powerful. As stated before, she is a vampire princess who was betrayed by her uncle. It is always the uncle. He was imprisoned for 300 years until Hajime discovered and freed her. Homegirl is a straight-up BEAST! She is a magical prodigy that can use all elemental types of magic and has godlike regeneration powers. She calls herself Hajime’s first wife and lets the other girls flirt because she knows Hajime wants her more than anyone else.
Then we have the rabbit girl Shea Haulia. She is the comedic relief in the anime as she always seems to get in trouble. She had no fighting ability when she first met Hajime and Yue, so she approached them to help her village. After training with Yue, she becomes a formidable fighter wielding her giant hammer. She is constantly pursuing the affections of Hajime, even going as far as French kissing him while he performs CPR. Homegirl is in major heat for love.
I don’t know what it is about Tio Klarus, but I find her strangely weird but funny. Tio has some significant perverted ways. Both physically and emotionally. I blame this all on Hajime. After she was defeated by his group, she develops a perverted and masochistic personality. She constantly gets off wanting Hajime to abuse her. She comes dragon-born tribe, and even though she is beautiful, heavy-chested, and has the appearance of a twenty-something-year-old, she is almost 600 years old. Here dragon form is straight-up fearsome.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest is one of those anime series that will surprise you. The story is interesting, with the main character finding dungeons to gain power. What is interesting is how he is doing it and the reason. One of the strong points is the characters. They are funny, over the top, and people you want to root for. I can’t wait for season three to drop.
BONUS CLIP!!!!
